Wiley unintentionally exposes the multiple contradictions of prevenient grace. He quotes the Articles of the Remonstrants which says that prevenient
grace “heals the disorders of the corrupt
nature, begins, advances, and brings to perfection everything that can be
called good in man,” but in the very next breath says, “Nevertheless, this
grace does not force the man to act against his inclination, but may be
resisted and rendered ineffectual by the perverse
will of the impenitent sinner.”[1] So on
one hand, the Arminian admits that grace “heals the disorders” of sin, and
brings man’s goodness “to perfection,” yet on the other, tells us that this
same man resists this grace and that his will is “perverse” and “impenitent.”
Which is it? Is the man healed of his sin or is he impenitent? Is he corrupt or
is he perfect? Is he good or is he perverse? Arminian theology wants both. The
Arminian wants the man to be free of his sin by God’s grace, but still a
sinner, free to choose Christ of his own sinful will. The Arminian wants to
believe that man is a free slave, a perverse believer. Why? He wants to be free
from the constraints of God’s sovereign will at every cost to scripture and to
reason.
Wiley continues by quoting Richard Watson’s Theological Institutes:
Everything which can be called good in man, previous to
regeneration is to be attributed to the work of the Spirit of God. Man himself
is totally depraved and not capable of either thinking or doing any good thin
as shown by the previous article…The Spirit of God leads the sinner from one
step to another, in proportion as He finds response in the heart of the sinner
and a disposition to obedience. There is a human co-operation with the divine
Spirit, the Holy Spirit working with the free will of man, quickening, aiding
and directing it in order to secure compliance with the conditions of the
covenant.[2]
In one breath, we
see that Watson maintains that God works against man’s sinful will and brings so-called
“good works” to fruition within the sinner, yet in the next, Watson still somehow
upholds the “free will” of the subject in question. In one breath, “Man himself
is totally depraved,” yet in the next, the Holy Spirit finds a “response in the
heart of the sinner and a disposition to obedience.” The Arminian desperately
desires freedom but tries to force it to fit within the context of scripture,
but in the end, he speaks nonsense.
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